Recovery plan for orcas: $50M, 30 years

Saving Puget Sound's orcas from extinction will mean protecting 2,500 square miles of waterways, the possible regulation of whale watching, redoubling efforts to recover salmon and scrutinizing environmental hazards from flame retardants to ship noise, a new federal plan says.

And it could take nearly three decades and cost $50 million.

The proposed recovery plan released Tuesday by the National Marine Fisheries Service is a first look at how the federal government wants to save the orcas since it declared them endangered under the Endangered Species Act last year.

But environmentalists offered mixed reviews, saying that it offers a valuable framework but doesn't go far enough. On the other hand, property-rights advocates who object to the listing in the first place continue to warn that it could mean restrictions on everything from ship traffic to development.

"Critical habitat"

The draft report released Tuesday represents the overall plan for the recovery of so-called Southern Resident orcas, mammals that spend much of the summer in Puget Sound and currently number only about 90, divided into three groups called pods. The goal is to return their numbers to health so they no longer need federal endangered-species protection.

The public is invited to comment on the recovery plan for the fisheries service to consider before issuing a final version. There is no deadline for that final plan.

At the same time, the fisheries service has issued a final decision about how much "critical habitat" it considered vital to the orcas. It has officially established that area as most of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the San Juan Islands and parts of Haro Strait.

Within that area, the fisheries service will scrutinize any project with federal funding or permits that could hurt either the orcas or their habitat. Construction of bridges or large piers, for example, would have to clear another regulatory hurdle.

Federal officials say a lot of questions remain about exactly why the orcas are in decline and how to best reverse it. So the recovery plan calls for doubling funding over the next five years to $15 million for research.

"We don't have a smoking gun," said Lynne Barre, a federal marine mammal scientist and an author of the plan.

There are several prime suspects.

Shrinking salmon populations, particularly of chinook, deprive the orcas of a staple diet. Toxic chemicals, including widely used flame retardants, concentrate in the whales' bodies, making them some of the most chemical-laden animals on earth. Ship propellers, underwater construction and sonar can create a cacophony around orcas, which rely on their sense of sound.

Some measures are already under way. For example, repairs being made at a state ferry terminal are being monitored for underwater noise.

Too little, too late?

But environmentalists said they are disappointed that the critical habitat areas don't include Hood Canal or coastal ocean waters off the Olympic Peninsula.

Orcas frequented Hood Canal until salmon there dwindled, said Kathy Fletcher, executive director of the People for Puget Sound. So if salmon recover there, it would once again be vital to the orcas, she said.

People have also tracked the whales along the Pacific Coast when they aren't in Puget Sound, said Fred Felleman of the environmental group Ocean Advocates. He said he suspects the decision to exclude those areas was made to avoid putting limits on Navy activities there.

Barre, however, said they can only protect habitat orcas are actually using at the time they are listed as endangered. Orcas hadn't been seen in Hood Canal for years, she said. And not enough is known about how orcas use the open ocean.

Fletcher also said the government should actually do something about toxic flame-retardant chemicals instead of simply calling for more study.

"By the time they fully understand everything they're interested in understanding about toxics, it could be too late for these whales," she said.

A bill banning those flame retardants, called PBDEs, has failed twice in the state Legislature. It is expected to come up again this winter.

Or too much, too soon?

On the flip side, several industry groups have been vocal that habitat protections and the new recovery plan would mean costly regulations — for a species they don't believe is endangered.

"We think that the impact could just be tremendous," said Russ Brooks, managing attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation's Northwest office, a property-rights group that has sued in federal court to overturn the endangered species listing.

Joined by the Building Industry Association of Washington and the Washington State Farm Bureau, they argue that orcas of Puget Sound aren't actually an important and separate population distinct from all the other orcas of the world.

"We think it's unnecessary," Brooks said of the recovery plan. "And not only unnecessary, but we think that the listing is illegal."

Brooks warned that orca protection could curb development far from the Sound because it would affect salmon runs that lace the entire region. And efforts to limit underwater noise could affect everything from cruise ships and cargo vessels to whale-watching operations, he said.

Depends on other plans

Meanwhile, the federal fisheries service is already considering possible limits on the whale-watching industry, which currently operates under voluntary rules about boat behavior near orcas.

In addition, the plan recommends that oil-spill cleanup plans include measures to shield orcas. It suggests that the government do more to educate the public about the mammals' plight. It also recommends better response to help injured orcas; study of ones that die; and better cooperation with Canada over orca issues.

As for helping salmon, the plan would rely largely on work that is already under way to restore chinook, which are also protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Likewise, environmentalists are looking just as eagerly toward a broad plan that Gov. Christine Gregoire is expected to release later this year to clean up Puget Sound in general.

"When it comes right down to it, restoring Puget Sound and recovering the orcas, that's one and the same thing," Fletcher said.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com